


Tears

by ValkerieRupert



Series: Pride Month 2018 Fics [20]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Trans Bismuth (Steven Universe), Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 04:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15017096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValkerieRupert/pseuds/ValkerieRupert
Summary: Boys don't cry. Bismuth's not a boy.Or: Why parents should always pay attention to their child's mental health if they seem to be crying regularly instead of just dismissing it as puberty.





	Tears

**Author's Note:**

> Realized I hadn't done anything for Bismuth yet, so here's this. Only just related to Steven Universe, you could change the name at the end and it would be a different fandom, but whatever. I'm losing interest in SU, which is why the latest fics have been kinda sucky. I'm probably gonna abandon SU after this series is over.  
> Anyway, reasoning behind headcanon:  
> -Bismuth has a more masculine body than any other Gems that I know of  
> -Bismuth (the element) is technically a metal and not a Gem, and I've heard a lot of people with fanfic ideas for a species of all-male aliens in the SU verse that are just like Gems but with metals instead of Gems  
> -Even in a world where being named Amethyst or Sardonyx is considered perfectly normal, someone being given the name Bismuth at birth seems like a bit of a stretch. Not to mention so far in my human AU the trans characters all either have names that sound similar to their birth names (Paul/Pearl, Stephanie/Stevonnie) or sound different to their birth names but mean effectively the same thing (Smoky's birth name is Morion, and Morion Quartz is another name for Smoky Quartz), and I've heard that while some real trans people do that, some trans people feel that it's too common for trans characters to choose names similar to their birth names in media, so I wanted to change it up a bit

Everyone always said Nathan was a crybaby.   
It was worse in kindergarden- back then he would cry if he so much as made the tiniest mistake, or anyone said anything mean to him. Eventually he hardened up, as all small children do, and learned to build resilience and not cry every time he was upset.  
But then came puberty. Puberty hit him hard. Starting in year six, he would cry over seemingly nothing, and surprisingly often declare that he hated his life. The adults all dismissed it as teenage hormones, and his classmates teased him to no end.  
Most of the boys in the class were working on the sexist stereotype that women cried more often than men, and as Nathan cried far more often than all of the girls in the class, they decided to belittle him by referring to him as a girl. Yet somehow these insults didn't hurt Nathan like their other comments did; rather, they made him reconsider who he was.   
Eventually came high school, but by this time Nathan had no worries. He- no, _she_ had learned to accept herself. She was being registered as a girl in her new high school. She was happy now, and she didn't cry nearly as often. She was strong.  
"Boys don't cry!" she remembered the bullies from primary school saying. But Bismuth wasn't a boy.


End file.
